Thursday, April 1, 2010

I was on the freeway today, stuck in traffic, and I got bored. I started surfing the radio dial, looking for something interesting to kill the time. What did I find? A radio station out of Santa Barbara CA, whose tag line was "Progressive radio". As I listened to the host, a Thom Hartmann, I realized that I was listening to a left-wing counterpart of Rush Limbaugh (keeping in mind that Rush has the reputation amongst my Democrat friends as being a rabble-rouser fear-monger who spews shock-talk). Ever interested in having an open (well, mostly open) political mind, I decided to see what our friend Thom had to say. He was complaining about the Tea Party members and the violence that they encourage. He read a blog post written by a Tea Party member (a woman) who made sure to bring her "little friend" (her gun) to Tea Parties, and encouraged like-minded folks to do the same. From that post, our friend Thom concluded that all Tea Party members are gun-toting zealots, "hatriots" (hate+patriot), and the REAL terrorists (as opposed to Al Quada, who killed 2,819 people on 9/11, as well as hundreds of others all over the world?) It brought to mind my experience with Prop. 8, when activists in the GLBT community were threatening all kinds of violence against Mormons. I read some blog posts that were inciting violence against the CHILDREN (!!!) of those who donated money to the Yes on 8 campaign. Some GLBT activists beat an elderly woman at a Prop. 8 rally. They vandalized churches and private homes (mine included). Were they "REAL terrorists"? Next, our friend Thom demeaned the intelligence of Tea Party members by calling them "Tea bags" and insisting that they don't have a clue about reality. And no compassion for the poor. And all they are is a bunch of money-hungry racists. Who don't use their brains. And "doesn't it just make your head explode? I can't believe these people exist!" My point is this:1) You can't judge an entire movement by the words of one or two blog posts.2) There are liberal radio talk show hosts who are JUST AS inflammatory as ANY conservative host.3) The liberals are hypocrites who say its ok when their side incites violent protests, but if there is even a rumor of violence from their opposition, they cry out in condemnation as loudly as they can. Progressive? No, more like REgressive.

It was enlightening to hear what the liberal talking points were. But it just made me mad. So much for trying to be open-minded. I just can't swallow Thom's liberal swill. It just reinforced my commitment to conservatism!